Abstract
The present article considers the musical experiences of reggae, as an aesthetic that emerges out of conditions imposed by processes of colonization, racialization and subalternization in Jamaica. I seek to discuss the relationships established between the elements that make up this Jamaican musical style and its formation as an expression of the process of (re)existence of Afrodiasporic populations in the Americas. The methodology of analysis used to develop this research involved two strands: a revision of the literature, reconstituting the socio-historical and cultural contexts that acted as a foundation for the emergence of reggae, and their interconnections with the biographical narratives of the main Jamaican reggae musicians between the 1960s and 80s. Seeking in this manner to outline the particularity of the relationship between reggae and the day-to-day experience of marginalization of the musicians in the emergence of reggae, I present the conditions and strategies for the production of a musical genre that I consider to be an outsider in relation to the Western aesthetic model.
Keywords:
reggae; musical experience; (re)existence; decolonization